Chelsea Must Attack Arsenal in Cup Semi, Says Hazard
LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea will not sit back and defend against Arsenal in their League Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday, forward Eden Hazard said.
The sides are level at 0-0 on aggregate after Chelsea dominated the first leg at Stamford Bridge but failed to find a breakthrough.
Arsenal are a far more attacking side at home and have scored nine goals in their last three matches at the Emirates Stadium, one of which was a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League on Jan. 3.
Chelsea played offensively in that game and Hazard believes they should adopt the same tactics on Wednesday.
"It’s a semi-final – we will go there to win for sure. If we are thinking about defending against Arsenal, that’s a bad thing because we need to score goals,” the Belgian said.
Chelsea will have Spaniards Alvaro Morata and Pedro available after both missed Saturday’s 4-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion through suspension, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could return from an ankle problem.
The sides are level at 0-0 on aggregate after Chelsea dominated the first leg at Stamford Bridge but failed to find a breakthrough.
Arsenal are a far more attacking side at home and have scored nine goals in their last three matches at the Emirates Stadium, one of which was a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League on Jan. 3.
Chelsea played offensively in that game and Hazard believes they should adopt the same tactics on Wednesday.
"It’s a semi-final – we will go there to win for sure. If we are thinking about defending against Arsenal, that’s a bad thing because we need to score goals,” the Belgian said.
Chelsea will have Spaniards Alvaro Morata and Pedro available after both missed Saturday’s 4-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion through suspension, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could return from an ankle problem.